Melissa Samuels
Melissa's page
Fundraising for Experience Camps
Story
Today on Yom Kippur I sat in temple and thought about my dad. My dad was never a religious person, but he always valued culture and greatly appreciated the Jewish traditions. I never need a special day to remember him, or to think about what an amazing dad he was, but today I found myself thinking about how to use this day of remembrance to do something meaningful for myself, my dad, and an organization that he would have been so proud that I am a part of.
I’m sure that everyone reading this knows about my involvement with Experience Camps, a one week camp for kids who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. It’s honestly impossible to put into words the impact that this organization is having on the lives of children (and volunteers) who have experienced a loss. It is truly the only place where everyone “gets it”.
Sitting in temple today we talked about giving and tzedakah. Experience Camps are free for all kids who attend thanks to generous donations. Last year almost 800 campers attended what we consider “the best week ever”, but there are still tons of kids on a waitlist, hoping to experience the magic of camp. It costs $1000 to send one kid to camp for the week, and we’re working to make sure that we don’t ever have to turn one away.
For the month of October, Experience Camps is hosting a battle of the camps competition to see who can send the most kids to camp! Any contribution is greatly appreciated and allows us to open more locations, and get all of those kids off of the waitlist.
Let me know if you’d like more information about this amazing organization, and if you’d like to make a donation, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/MelissaSamuels
Let’s send more kids to camp! ✨🏕☀️
From Experience Camps Central: When we decided to expand from our original camp in Maine, the sunny shores of California beckoned. We began with 18 campers in 2013 and have grown over 800% since then. Now in residence at Green Oak Ranch in southern California, our numbers and positive vibes continue to grow each year. This year, we split the boys and girls into 2 separate weeks so we have more room to grow, and grow we will! For 6 weeks, we will embrace the spirit of competition as the camper, volunteers, and friends of each camp compete against their extended camp family to see who will emerge as the winner in the Battle of the Camps.
